Baulking at shipping sanctions, Greece balances Ukraine aid, fear of Russia
Baulking at shipping sanctions, Greece balances Ukraine aid, fear of Russia Sanctions on Russian LNG would hurt Greek shipping, argues Athens, but it also...
Key points
- Baulking at shipping sanctions, Greece balances Ukraine aid, fear of Russia Sanctions on Russian LNG would hurt Greek shipping, argues Athens, but it also fears Moscow’s hybrid warfare.
- Greece’s relations with Ukraine have hit a new hurdle just weeks after clearing the last one, in a sign of how Europeans are trying to balance helping Ukraine with protecting their own economies.
- “We don’t want Greece to be a theatre of war operations.” Greek officials say that Ukraine has now promised to be more careful in the future.
- Last month, Theoharis signed Greece’s first memorandum outlining its assistance in Ukraine’s reconstruction, and the two sides are moving towards an intergovernmental agreement, Theoharis said.
What happened
Baulking at shipping sanctions, Greece balances Ukraine aid, fear of Russia Sanctions on Russian LNG would hurt Greek shipping, argues Athens, but it also fears Moscow’s hybrid warfare. Greece’s relations with Ukraine have hit a new hurdle just weeks after clearing the last one, in a sign of how Europeans are trying to balance helping Ukraine with protecting their own economies. “We don’t want Greece to be a theatre of war operations.” Greek officials say that Ukraine has now promised to be more careful in the future. Last month, Theoharis signed Greece’s first memorandum outlining its assistance in Ukraine’s reconstruction, and the two sides are moving towards an intergovernmental agreement, Theoharis said. Greece’s port of Alexandroupolis has since 2022 become an important conduit for US weapons to Ukraine, and in November last year began to provide Ukraine with LNG, after Russia bombed Ukrainian gas infrastructure. “A drone deal means that 50 percent of the product built in Greece will be used against Russia,” the senior government official told Al Jazeera, adding, “we don’t yet know what kind of agreement the US will reach with Russia.” Greece’s cautious and incremental...